Sarlahi farmers finally home, but the fertiliser crisis remains

Two Nepali brothers have returned home after a harrowing 38-day ordeal in an Indian jail, a situation that has brought Nepal's persistent fertilizer crisis into sharp focus. Suresh Prasad Singh, 55, and Nagendra Prasad Singh, 60, were released on bail from Sitamarhi district jail in India on Friday, following a court order.

The brothers had ventured across the border into India's Sonbarsa town on July 1, seeking to purchase fertilizer for their farm. Like many farmers in Nepal's southern plains, they had faced severe difficulties in obtaining subsidized chemical fertilizer during the crucial paddy planting season. With local supplies unavailable and fearing crop failure, the short trip across the border seemed their only option.

Their journey back, with two sacks of urea and six sacks of diammonium phosphate (DAP) loaded onto their bicycles, ended abruptly when they were stopped by Indian authorities. Accused of smuggling fertilizer, they were detained, first at a Sonbarsa police station and then transferred to Dumra Jail. The experience was deeply traumatic for the brothers, who had only intended to save their rice crop.

"It was something I never imagined," Nagendra Prasad Singh recounted after their release. "I ended up in prison in another country. It was an extremely painful experience." He described the 38 days as feeling like an eternity. Their release was secured after relatives pledged land as bail bonds, a process that involved local guarantors and significant procedural delays. The brothers must now report to the Indian court monthly until their case is resolved, a stark reminder of the legal entanglement they faced simply for seeking essential agricultural inputs.

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It was something I never imagined. I ended up in prison in another country. It was an extremely painful experience.